Matt Sharratt

When people ask what we do here at BCN, we tell them we provide trauma informed mentoring to trafficked and at-risk youth. But what does that mean? How is trauma informed mentoring important to the children in our program?

Our mentor training program is a vital part of what we do at BCN which is why we’re excited to have been awarded a grant from Mentor Colorado to help us improve our training program.

Trauma informed services are generally based on a framework of understanding, recognizing, and responding appropriately to the effects of trauma. At BCN, this translates into providing specific training for our mentors before they are paired with their mentee.

Our mentors are educated about the effects of sexual, physical, and emotional trauma on children, and how they can behave to reduce the risk of re-traumatizing a child. Children who have experienced major trauma, like those in our program, often have negative expectations from adults. By equipping our mentors with tools to help them understand and empathize with these children’s experiences, we are helping to build new, positive associations about adults.

Through this grant, we will receive guidance to help us take our program to the next level and become nationally accredited. More importantly, these funds will improve our capacity to help trafficked and at risk youth.

Blossom Care Network is excited to present the first talk in their summer Community Lecture Series. Madeline Behnke will be speaking on May 28th at 5:00PM at Denver Community Church on South Washington Street. Ms. Behnke will focus on safety in social media and how the conversation surrounding sex parents have for children has changed in 2016.

Madeline Behnke has been the Executive Director of Blossom Care Network since 2015. Her work with trafficked and at risk youth in Colorado fuels her passion for creating awareness amongst parents about the issues surrounding domestic trafficking. As a parent herself, she knows how ubiquitous risky online behavior is among teens. Her hope is that by educating parents, she will never see their children in her center.

Blossom Care Network’s lecture series is a means for the community to explore issues surrounding domestic trafficking and gain an awareness of what the problem looks like in Colorado. This is a free event sponsored by Blossom Care Network and hosted by Denver Community Church.

Time: May 28th, 5:00-6:30PM

Place: Denver Community Church, South Washington Street

About Blossom Care Network

The Blossom Mentoring Center provides trauma informed mentoring to trafficked and at risk youth and coordinates services that meet vulnerable children’s needs while identifying and developing their talents, and encouraging them toward lifelong success.